Learner+Motivation


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=ARCS Model of Motivational Design (Keller)=

According to John Keller’s ARCS Model of Motivational Design, there are four steps for promoting and sustaining motivation in the learning process: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction.




 * 1. Attention** - Capture participants' interest and stimulate an attitude of inquiry. For example: ask questions; use emotional or personal information; create a mental challenge; use human-interest examples.


 * 2. Relevance** - Make the instruction relevant to the learners' needs and goals. Match the instruction to the learning styles and personal interests of the learners. Tie in the instruction to the learners' experience and help them to see the relevance.


 * 3. Confidence** - Build in learners a positive expectation of success. Make sure that the learning experience helps learners to display competence and success as a result of their efforts and abilities. It should be an achievable rather than overwhelming learning experience.


 * 4. Satisfaction** - Encourage and support their intrinsic enjoyment of the learning experience, as well as providing extrinsic rewarding consequences for their successes. Also build a perception of fair treatment. Reinforce the learning by providing useful and fair feedback.

More ARCS Resources


 * Keller, J. M. (1983). Motivational design of instruction. In C. M. Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructional-design theories and models: An overview of their current status. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
 * Keller, J. M. (1984). The use of the ARCS model of motivation in teacher training. In K. Shaw & A. J. Trott (Eds.), Aspects of Educational Technology Volume XVII: staff Development and Career Updating. London: Kogan Page.
 * Keller, J. M. (1987). Development and use of the ARCS model of motivational design. Journal of Instructional Development, 10(3), 2-10. John Keller’s Official ARCS Model Website


 * Alignment of Keller's ARCS Model to Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction Model: **


 * Participant activation and motivation using Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction: **
 * ** Events of Instruction ** || ** Events of Cognitive/Learning Process ** ||
 * 1. Gaining attention || Reception / Motivation ||
 * 2. Informing learners of objective || Establishment of expectancies ||
 * 3. Stimulating recall of prior learning || Retrieval (from long-term memory) ||
 * 4. Presenting stimulus material || Selective perception ||
 * 5. Providing learning guidance || Semantic encoding ||
 * 6. Eliciting performance (practice) || Response generation ||
 * 7. Providing feedback || Reinforcement ||
 * 8. Assessing performance || Metacognition ||
 * 9. Enhancing retention and transfer || Generalization ||


 * 1. Gain Attention ** - Start by gaining your learners' attention using an analogy, anecdote, paradox, photograph, magazine article, demonstrations or any other media. Display an outline of your lecture plan in a visual form (eg. an illustration, a summary, a diagram, a map, or chart). This gives learners a framework into which they can organize subsequent content.


 * 2. Inform learner of objectives ** - Describe what you plan to achieve, what learners will be doing and what they may be using. State, ‘At the end of the lecture you will be able to….'. Create expectancy via your objectives and description of the structure of the lecture.


 * 3. Stimulate recall of prior learning ** - Relate your new lesson to situations or knowledge that your learners are already familiar with, e.g. the previous lesson.


 * 4. Present stimuli with distinctive features ** - Describe the key points in your lesson, emphasizing distinctive features, using a variety of techniques if possible. For example, use photos, drawings, the real thing etc. Vary the format in order to maintain attention and to increase comprehension.


 * 5. Guide learning ** - Present your instruction in small steps (chunking) leading from simple to complex.


 * 6. Elicit performance ** - Involve learners in questioning, discussion and demonstration to confirm that they have learnt from your instruction, to increase comprehension and to maintain attention through active participation.
 * 7. Provide feedback **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> - As learners respond to your questioning, provide them with reinforcement or remediation when necessary.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">8. Assess performance **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> - Use a quiz or assignment to confirm mastery of your objectives.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">9. Enhance retention and learning transfer **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> - Provide the opportunity for learners to apply the outcome of their training in a real world environment eg. realistic assignment using real data and equipment. Incorporate the full experiential learning cycle into activities so that students are encouraged to reflect on and analyze their experiences.

Resources: Gagne, R., Briggs, L. & Wager, W. Principles of Instructional Design  (4th Ed., 1992)